Cllr. Éilis Ryan
Cllr. Éilis Ryan (Workers’ Party, North Inner City Dublin) has condemned Sinn Féin’s support for the sale of significant tracts of Dublin City Council land to private developers at a meeting of Dublin City Council on Monday, 11th January.
The Workers’ Party councillor said Sinn Féin’s endorsement of the land sell-off was“astoundingly hypocritical behaviour, given their support this very week for activists opposing a developer takeover of historic buildings in Moore Street.”
She noted:
“The decision to sell off land could not have passed through the council without Sinn Féin’s full support. The party’s rapid move into the Golden Circle was summed up to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s words of congratulations to Sinn Féin at the council meeting for their support for the Housing Land Initiative.
Their actions are in stark contrast to the determination of the Moore Street occupiers,whose campaign has succeeded in securing a stay on demolition work on Moore Street.”
Cllr. Ryan said that the Housing Land Initiative is yet another transfer of wealth from the state to private developers:
“The Housing Land Initiative is nothing more than a ‘Public Private Partnership Part Two.’ It prioritises rents and the profits of private developers and landlords over the need for decent and affordable housing – far removed from the republican ideals of 1916.”
Cllr. Ryan concluded:
“Radical politics requires more than romance about our history. The impressive victory of those occupying the buildings in the courts today is evidence of what can be achieved when we stand up for what we believe. However, no commemoration of 1916 can be taken seriously if it does not have at its heart a defense of the basic rights of those who are living today. It is clear that this is not Sinn Féin’s intention.”